OHCHR and OSCE strengthen capacities of defence lawyers in southern Kyrgyzstan on human rights standards
OSH, Kyrgyzstan, 19 May 2016 – The Regional Office for Central Asia of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in co-operation with the OSCE Centre in Bishkek today completed a three-day training course for defence lawyers on developing effective litigation strategies before the UN treaty bodies.
The course aimed at enhancing the practical skills of some 20 practicing defence lawyers from southern Kyrgyzstan and representative of the regional Ombudsman’s office in Batken in developing effective legal reasoning while preparing individual complaints. A trainer from Tajikistan – Nigina Bakhrieva – conducted the training.
“Defence lawyers play an important role in ensuring the strong rule of law and delivery of justice that upholds national and international human rights provisions,” said Anete Erdmane, Human Dimension Officer at the OSCE Centre’s Osh field office. “In line with OSCE commitments, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek works to assist Kyrgyzstan in improving access to justice for all, including the most vulnerable members of society.”
Yevgenia Avetisova, Human Rights Officer at OHCHR, said: “The individual complaints mechanisms of the UN, to which Kyrgyzstan is a party, empower an individual to bring an alleged violation of human rights to the attention of the United Nations and obtain redress and justice in situations in which the national legal system may have failed to do so. In this light, this workshop helped the participants in identifying effective litigation strategies before the UN treaty bodies.”
Discussions focused on violations of the rights to freedom from torture and ill-treatment, freedom of religion or belief, and freedom from discrimination. The participants will continue to receive further support from the same expert who will provide practical advice over the next six months.
The training course has been conducted as part of the OSCE Centre’s project on promoting a comprehensive approach to the rule of law, administration of justice and prevention of torture, as well as an OHCHR-implemented project on strengthening the rule of law, which is funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund.